The TfL ‘engagement’ excercise on the Blackfriars bike lane debacle closes this afternoon. If you’ve not caught either of our previous posts, TfL want to remove a section of cycle lane in order to add a third lane for cars moving south onto the bridge.
[Grabs soapbox] People are dying. Barely a week goes by without yet another story of yet another person being killed on London’s roads.
Unreported are the dozens every week whose deaths are accelerated by NO2 and particle pollution. Yes, some cyclists can be nut-jobs - and we all get pissed off about that - but London’s authorities can’t excuse themselves from responsibility for the urban streets that they continue to make more dangerous and the hundreds of lives destroyed directly on the roads and the thousands of lives that are cut short by our appalling inaction on tackling air pollution.
Half of London is on ‘the other side’ of the river - it happens to also be the side that gets the raw deal on TfL run transportation. All we’re asking is to be able to cross the Thames directly and safety on foot or by bike. Our Mayor professes to be leading a cycling revolution, while his transport department carries on sketching road junctions like it was 1971.
No one pretends that getting London moving London isn’t uniquely challenging, and finding the solution will be a long and difficult task - but the starting point is easy - all you have to do is send one email and tell TfL that this scheme is not what Londoners want. Click here to do it now.
